SFF harassment revelations 2013

TRIGGER WARNING This article or section, or pages it links to, contains information about sexual assault and/or violence which may be triggering to survivors.

The SFF harassment revelations were a series of blog entries in June 2013 concerning the extent of harassment at science fiction and fantasy conventions. An editor at WisCon 2013 at a book release party is reported to have harassed Elise Matthiesen, who reported the incident immediately to the party's host, then made a formal report to the editor's employer, Tor Books, then reported the incident to the convention's Safety committee.

On 12 July 2013 Patrick Nielsen Hayden, manager of science fiction at Tor Books, reported that James Frenkel, named as Matthiesen's harasser, was no longer employed by Tor. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Frenkel at WisCon 38

Main article: Jim Frenkel at WisCon 38

Frenkel was not banned from Wiscon and attended and volunteered at Wiscon 38 in May 2014. Following this, he was provisionally banned from WisCon for several years. In August 2014, he was permanently banned from WisCon.

Links

• Elise Matthesen describes making a harassment report re being harassed at WisCon, simultaneously cross-posted on Mary Robinette Kowal's blog, Seanan McGuire's blog, Chuck Wendig's blog, Brandon Sanderson's blog, John Scalzi's blog, and Jim Hines' blog (with commentary by Hines)
• Sigrid Ellis posts in Scalzi's comments identifying Matthesen's harasser as James Frenkel
• K. Tempest Bradford reports that while Matthesen was told she was filing the first formal complains about Frenkel, some staff at his employer Tor had been aware for years
• Other women SFF authors and fans shared similar experiences with systemic harassment:
  • I don't take my sword to work by Kat Howard

"The first time I got a verbal list of "don't be alone with these guys" was at Clarion. And by "these guys" I mean other professionals. When I go to cons now, my friends and I have hand signals, code words, that will let our friends know we need rescuing. Because here is one of the truths about cons - when I attend, I attend as a writer. I often have panels, readings, sometimes signings. I am there to be accessible to fans, to editors who might want to commission a story. I am there to be nice."

• • Maybe It's Just Us by Cherie Priest

"When we don't report, when we don't come forward in an Official Capacity, this is what we do instead. We form social antibodies. We inoculate our friends, the newer women who aren't used to this shit yet. It feels like the only thing we can do – the only thing we can really do, since a Formal Report might be your word against his. A Formal Report might not believe us, and might even come back to bite us one day for all we know. It's a small industry. People talk. We don't want to look like a "problem."

"But posts like this one, by Elise Matthesen will make it easier for me to speak up in the future … not just because it lays down a practical road-map of how to go about it. More than anything, it will help prompt me – remind me – to shake off the surprise, the second-guessing, and the general sense of uncertainty (am I overreacting?) that I always feel in case maybe I should let it go, since it’s probably just me.

"Because it's not just me. It's not just us.

"And the truth is, it never has been."

• • BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS HIJACKING YOUR SHIP: On Conference Creeps by Maria Dahvana Headley
  • Science fiction. Harassment. Missing stairs. by Leah Bobet
  • Tricia Sullivan calls it out as well: I know I've got my shovel, where's yours?
  • Stephanie Zvan recounts an uncomfortable conversation with Frenkel in 2002.
  • Stephanie Zvan gives advice to Wiscon organizers and con organizers in general on handling harassers who want to return.

See also

• Conference anti-harassment
• Scalzi's harassment pledge